Whereas courts and arbitral tribunals address disputes with a legal answer, they frequently do not resolve the underlying conflict and, therefore, do not provide the best solution to a dispute.

ADR offers actual opportunities to reach win-win outcomes, in the best interests of all of the involved parties, creating efficient and value-added solutions by the very reason that it embraced more elements than the court-dispute itself and can consider aspects which are much broader than those strictly defined by the narrow framework imposed by the courts.

ALTENBURGER is a leading firm in Switzerland in the field of ADR and, particularly, in commercial, civil and criminal mediation (eg complex family- and inheritance related matters). Several of our lawyers are accredited mediators and were trained by Swiss or foreign leading institutions (IMI, CEDR, CMAP, CIArb, CCI, CORE, CSMC, GPM, FSA, OMPI, Harvard PoN, CPR, etc.) and some of them are sworn mediators.

Our multilingual and multicultural team of specialists is qualified to identify, together with the client, the most adequate strategy and to recommend efficient dispute resolution tools for each situation.

We assist and represent our clients to their best interests. Therefore, we systematically perform an in-depth analysis of the matter and balance the risks, strengths, and weaknesses of each situation. We are committed to identifying, together with our clients, the most adequate strategy and consider for that purpose a wide range of options, including the opportunities offered by ADR as well as hybrid between ADR and litigation or arbitration, such as Med-Arb, Arb-Med or MEDALOA, as may be appropriate.

Selected cases:

• Med-Arb under Swiss Rules of commercial mediation, regarding a cross-boarder distribution agreement, between Switzerland and the US. Amount in dispute: approx. CHF 8 mio.
• Mediation CCI post M&A (assets and share purchase agreements) between a German company and a British company, regarding the performance of the sale of a company. Amount in dispute: approx. CHF 48 mio.
• Mediation CEDR between a Turkish and a German company, regarding the assignment of companies and of related contracts. Amount in dispute: approx. EUR 18 mio.
• Mediation CEPANI regarding several construction projects in Dubai, between an Indian and a Belgian company
• Mediation CMAP regarding shipbuilding between a French and a Turkish company
• Mediation CSMC regarding a distribution agreement between an Austrian and a Swiss company
• Medaloa within a major Swiss company, performed between union and management regarding the reconduction of collective labour agreement. 
• Mediation regarding a major inheritance dispute involving real estate and real estate companies
• Mediation between the partners of a travel agency, an architect office or an accounting company
• Mediation within companies, in a context of labour-law disputes
• Criminal Mediation involving a media agency
• Family mediation in the context of divorce, separation of protective measures of matrimonial union